Of course he'll be sacked from the band, because even if he's innocent, this will ruin him and Lostprophets will be thought of as 'that paedo band'.

So, IF he is a nonce, do you reckon the other members of Lostprophets knew, but didn't say anything? And if he's sacked, do you reckon it'll be sort of a case of him being thrown to the lions in an effort to save their arses?

Imagine being a Lostprophets fan today. Imagine being a Lostprophets fan at all.

and don't refer to him actually raping or attempting to rape a child. That's not to defend him in any way, I just mean that it's unlikely he's some sort of prolific Saville-esque peado, the wording seems to imply some sort of internet grooming. I'm conflicted- it's indescribably wrong, but at the same time I'm not in the "burn the peados" camp. If he's attracted to children then he clearly has mental health issues, it's just sad he didn't get help earlier. Again, I'm not defending him, it's just an awful situation, his life as he knows it is over. I suppose people will say "he should have thought of that before he conspired to have sex with children", and that's true too, I'm just not sure how much control people have over desires like that. Hmm.

like feet or pissing or whatever, you can't help what you're attracted to, or I'm sure most people attracted to children would, I'm not excusing it, clearly, it causes damage, but I wouldn't call it a 'mental health' issue.

It's not a fetish like feet or pissing, because those are generally speaking fetishes which are acted out by consenting adults - or at least can be. The realisation of a sexual attraction to pre-pubescent children is rape.

However I agree that calling it a 'mental illness' is possibly going too far the other way. While the idea of an adult having sex with a young child is abhorrent to the vast majority and a fundamentally abusive pursuit, I think the aggressive knee-jerk reaction of anyone contemplating the idea of a genuine romantic fixation with children is more social than anything else. Although I obviously wouldn't seek to draw comparisons in any other terms, it's worth remembering that homosexuality was considered a mental illness not all that long ago.

I'm pretty sure there's a balance to be struck between dismissing it as a mere foible, and the whole idea that all paedophiles are violent monsters whose passions are bent into some caricature of humanity to ratify the moral anxiety it stirs up in the rest of us.

You see cases of teachers falling in love with their 15 and 16 year old pupils and you think, that's not inconceivable. Morally dubious to say the least, but not inconceivable. By that age people have personalities and sexual bodies and at least a degree of autonomy and whatnot.

though you have to remember that teachers falling in love with 15-16 year old students isn't pedophillia at all, it's natural to be attracted to post-pubescent people, age of consent is an arbitrary distinction which varies between cultures and countries, as a way of trying to anticipate when a person has sexual agency. For example, in Spain the age of consent is 13. Though with a teacher/pupil situation it's a bit different because the teacher has a duty of care.

it would be statutory rape, and very much illegal. But paedophillia isn't a legal term, it refers to an attraction to pre-pubescent children, so i guess is more of a medical term? Usually, when referring to instances of sex with teenagers under the age of consent, it's only tabloid newspapers that refer to the perpetrators as paedophiles.

I mean, as far as I know, no-one gets convicted of being a paedophile anyway, they get convicted of a certain charge eg. sex acts with a minor under 13 etc. So there isn't really such thing as being legally recognised as a peado, peadophile is just a term applied to adults who are sexually attracted to children. Although the term is meant to address children in a biological sense ie pre-pubescent, it's often incorrectly used to refer to children in a societal sense, potentially meaning anyone under the age of 18, which is how those teacher/pupil relationships end up with 'Peado Scum'-type articles in the Mail.

HIS OWN KID is being alleged on there. Nearly two years ago. Why the hell was nothing done if this was being openly debated?! And I refuse to believe the band weren't aware of these rumours if fans are openly saying he had shown them pictures and videos. I'm genuinely shocked.

every news article seems to have a picture of him looking either a bit ropey or a bit weird. I'd imagine those pictures are the exception rather than the rule and they're going out of their way for them.

As for the story itself it really seems insane. He was always the tee-total, clean cut kid until recently. Apparently the band staged an intervention the other year when he started acting strange and doing drugs. I read an interview of him laughing it off at the time but it must have been a very slippery slope from there to here.

Imagine what he's going through now, though. From pretty powerful and well off to the lowest of the low in 24 hours. Christmas in prison and a laughing stock. Even if he's proved innocent his life is over.

Several of my younger colleagues, including one with long hair, were despondent over the news and will be burning their favorite Lost Prophets LP's over the weekend. I on the other hand will be relaxing at home with the wife and a bottle of red, listening to some Blue Note and maybe a little Hawkwind on the side!